A near overflowing crowd was on hand to witness the
season opener of the new Mississippi Thunder (and Lightning) Speedway in
Fountain City, Wisconsin. Hosting WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds, WISSOTA Street
Stocks, WISSOTA Super Stocks, USRA Modifieds, as well as Hornets and two classes
of Outlaw Mini Mods, the newness of it all rolled into a near complete show by
night’s end.

After a steady, but brief shower prior to race time, the temperatures cooled
down drastically as the lightning show amped up throughout the evening
occasionally letting go of some big raindrops. The night finally succumbed to
the rains after the USRA Modified feature took to the track.

Racing action began with three classes of Mini Mods; A Mini Mods and B Mini Mods
which run the track in the middle of the regular track, and the new 600 Mini
Mods which actually run the full-sized track. The A Mini Mods consist of
competitors 11 years old and up while the B Mini Mods consist of competitors 10
years old and younger. Feature winners in the A Mini Mods and B Mini Mods were
brother and sister, Alexis and Lucas Schott. Other siblings dot these classes
with Anna and Mathew Schliesmann as well as Jackson and Parker Hale. The
Stevens' clan is well represented also with Mike, Alex, and Matt; while not all
brothers, relatives nonetheless. Stay tuned to see how all of the young drivers
of the Mini Mods develop as the season progresses.

Kyle Jumbeck started his season off well with a win in the WISSOTA Midwest
Modifieds, and Danny Richards won his first feature at the new track in the
WISSOTA Street Stocks. Dan Nissalke nipped the field in the WISSOTA Super
Stocks.

The 16-car field of the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds hit the track for their first
feature of 2009 with Dustin Scott and Pete Bushman leading the way. Scott made
the early move to the lead followed by Bushman and Travis Krause while Shaun
Walski and McAdam Kensmoe battled side by side for fourth place. Scott kept his
momentum going as Kyle Jumbeck moved fast through the field and into contention
for the top spots. Walski and Krause, as well as the others, seem to enjoy the
wide, sweeping turns as many times three-wide racing ensued around turns one and
two. As Scott and Jumbeck continued into lap traffic, a caution emerged for a
spin in turn four. They regrouped with eight laps down, when Scott bobbled
going out of turn one allowing Jumbeck the break to take the lead. Walski
cruised into third place ahead of Bushman when a second caution realigned the
field. Jumbeck, Scott, Walski, Krause, and Bushman topped the restart to a
background of impressive lightning. Jumbeck w!
as able to power away from Scott while Walski reeled in Scott for second place.
But in the end, Jumbeck took first-feature honors followed by Scott, Walski, and
Krause. Chris Gilbertson used patience throughout the race as he nipped the top
five.

Donny Ganz and Dan Bork took the WISSOTA Street Stocks down the front stretch
for the feature followed by Toby Jahnke and Mike Conrad, but problems arose
right away in turns one and two. In the middle of the turns, Ganz ended up
taking a sharp right toward the wall collecting Conrad as others stacked up
behind them. The caution set the field back up for a complete restart. Conrad
appeared to take the worst beating but was able to continue on. As the race
resumed at full speed, Bork took the lead briefly ahead of Ganz, but it was
Conrad who was on the move as he soon cleared Ganz and Bork. Another caution a
few laps later set Conrad on the point followed by Danny Richards, Bork, Ganz,
and Kevin Hager. Conrad stretched his lead followed by a fast-approaching
Richards. Hager stole third place from Bork as Richards worked the low side of
Conrad for the lead. Conrad self-spun in turn two with three laps to go, which
set Richards up ahead of Hager, Ganz, Bork, and Fred Pru!
doehl. Hager poured it on to charge for the lead, but Richards was able to
grab his first feature at the speedway. Hager clocked a second place finish
followed by Ganz and Bork. Conrad clawed his way back up to fifth.

Winona’s Dan Nissalke topped the eight-car field of WISSOTA Super Stocks as they
went three-wide through turns one and two to start the feature. Troy Langowski
and Bob Fort, last year’s first and second place point’s finishers, darted side
by side for second place. Gary Wiersgalla took a liking to the new
configuration as he made a bid for the third spot over Langowski. Rookie
Michael Hofer settled into fifth place, or so he thought, but Jon Duffy moved
his familiar blue machine into the top five. Wiersgalla cleared Fort for second
place, but Fort shot right back at the half-way point of the race. Big rain
drops again started to fall leaving all to wonder again if this was the end of
the night. But once again, they stopped as the race continued on with Nissalke
out front. Fort nosed in on Nissalke’s territory as the laps wound down when
Wiersgalla joined the lead action for three-wide racing around turns one and
two. As it went down to the last turn to the checkered !
flag, it could have been any of three to take the win, but it was Nissalke who
made it to the line first just feet ahead of Wiersgalla. Fort was close in
third followed by Langowski and Duffy.

The USRA Modifieds hit the track for their feature, but they only got a few laps
in when the hard rains came crashing down. Next week will be the continuation
of the USRA Modified feature as they will resume on the lap they left off with
along with the 600 Mini Mod Feature and Hornet feature followed by the regular
show. There is a lot of great racing ahead for the new track in WISSOTA. Be
sure to visit the track website for information regarding the season ahead.